Is your computer doing things such as your CD-ROM drawer opening and closing and your mouse moving on its own? You knew your computer was smart, but not this smart, right?!?
As scary as it sounds a hacker very well might have taken full control of your computer. Hackers do this by installing malicious software called Trojan Horses.
Trojan Horses get into your system by pretending to be something good, useful, and innocent – very much like the ancient Greek Trojan Horse.
Downloaded some pictures off Usenet, a free cool little game? You might have more of a price than you bargained for with it. They could actually be infected with a Trojan Horse; destructive software designed to do harm to you and your computer.
Remote Access Trojans (RATs) are the most common type of Trojan Horse. This backdoor Trojan is designed to take full control of your computer. In fact, this malicious software can have even more control than you ever had.
Trojan Horses are not just downright scary but a real threat to your Internet security and privacy. A Trojan horse installed on your computer could actually lead you to becoming a victim of identity theft, one of the fastest growing crimes in Canada and the USA.
There are some signs and symptoms to indicate that your computer might be infected with a Trojan Horse.
- CD-ROM drawer opening and closing on its own.
- Documents or messages printing on your printer by themselves
- Your computer screen inverts or flips upside down.
- Your mouse moves all by itself.
- Your mouse starts leaving trails
- Your right and left mouse buttons reverse their functions
- Your mouse pointer completely disappears. The hacker does this by taking the liberty to turn off your mouse.
- Your programs load and unload all by themselves. Many times your anti-virus sotware altered or even deleted altogether.
- Your computer plays recordings, that you never recorded, of things in your computer room. If your computer has a microphone, the hacker can record and listen to what is going on in your room. just to scare you, he might play back some of his recordings while you are in the room. How scary is that?!?
- Your sound volume turns up or down all by its lonesome. The hacker does this to get your attention and scare you.
- Your Windows Start button disappears
- Your computer starts conversing with you. Some Trojans allow the hacker to type anything that he wants to say to you in a box and then make it appear that your computer is talking to you. Often this feature is used along with the sound option and web cam so that he can see and hear you as he converses. How terrifying?!?
- Your computer starts reading the contents of your computer clip board.
- Strange chat boxes appear on your computer screen, and you are forced to chat with some stranger.
- Your wall paper or background settings change all by themselves.
- Your computer goes to a strange or unknown web page by itself, even when you haven’t even launched your web browser.
- Your Windows color settings change all by its lonesome.
- Your screen saver settings change by themselves.
- You get complaints from your ISP that your computer has been port scanning. You might even get an email from your ISP warning you that your account will be terminated if such activity continues.
- Your computer generates strange Windows warning, error, info, or question boxes that appear on your computer.
- People that you are chatting with all of a sudden know way too much personal info about you and your computer.
- Someone you are chatting with seems to know what others are talking to you about in private while using instant messenger(IM) programs, such as ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, and Windows Messenger. While you are infected with a Trojan Horse, the hacker can not only see everything you type, but both sides of Instant Messenger conversations. They do this through keystroke loggers, also known as keylogging and keyloggers.
- People you are chatting with can see you or somehow know what is inside your computer room. No, they are not psychic; they have turned on your web cam and are spying on you.
- Your computer speaker turns on and off all by itself
- The time and date on your computer change all by itself
- Your computer shuts down by itself. Your task bar completely disappears
As you can see, Trojan Horses are indeed a very real threat to your Internet security and privacy. Fortunately, there are steps to take to prevent, detect, and remove Trojan Horses.
